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Indiana

Cities & Towns

New Harmony

Excerpts from newspapers and other sources

From the files of the
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

7l.2odq ats. OS us

New Harmony Times
June 16, 1967

Abe
•New

Lincoln In
Harmony

Abraham Lincoln is the one
historical person most of us
would like to know, for as the
common man reads of him he
can read into Lincoln something
of himself. This self-identifica-
tion of the American people
with the sixteenth President has
left an indelible imprint on every
succeeding generation that has

By James Hooe

Current controversy over Wil-
liam Manchester's Book "The
Death of a President," is per-
petually paralleled with every
new book published on Abraham
Lincoln. More than five hundred
have been published; yet many
myths and historical distortions
persist.

Almost every writer of recent
times has expressed a desire to
write on Lincoln, while the most
popular contemporary work is
Carl Sandburg's poetic prose
which is praised by Robert E.
Sherwood as "monumental" and
criticized by Edmund Wilson
who states, "There are moments
when one is tempted to feel that
the cruelest thing that has hap-
pened to Lincoln since he was
shot by Booth was to fall into
the hands of Carl Sandburg."

Since American writers walk
where angels fear to tread, this
writer, through association with
the Lincoln Heritage Trail
Foundation as a public rela-
tions consultant, in the insatiable
quest for new details on Lin-
coln's life, has re-examined his
early formative years in Indi-
ana.

In a forth-coming book, 'The
Hoosier Lincoln, new research
has shown a plausible reason
why Lincoln left Indiana at the
age of twenty-one better edu-
cated than his tutored con-
temporaries elsewhere and a
reappraisal of his father, Thomas
Lincoln, which brings a new
interpretation of what Lincoln
was really like.

influenced the shaping of the
destiny of our nation in the past
and, presumably, for the ages.

Lincoln's uncanny understand-
ing of how to communicate with
the masses and his unique use
of applied psuchology in hold-
ing a nation together can be
illustrated in his appeal for
Americans to: "Let reverence
for the laws become the political
religion of the nation," which
is especially applicable today
and. as timely as President John-
son's rent State of the Union
massage.

Although Lincoln has been
portrayed in more books than
any other American, no two
writers seem to agree on their
assessments of the personality
traits combined in the complex
man, Lincoln, which has created
a contradictory and sometimes
controversial image of him.

Lincoln himself left an im-
pressive amount of published
words estimated to out number
the complete works of Shake-
speare and all the words of the
Bible. While revealing some
aspects of his inner-self in his
writing, his own record of his
life is far from complete. His
important formative years from
age seven to twenty one in
Indianat he summed up with
the sentence: "There I grew
|_up."

This has led many biographers
to conclude he was ashamed and
wished to "cover up" his humble
youth in the State of Indiana,
which is strangely paralleled
with his own life. Lincoln was
born in 1809, the year Indiana
became a separa^ terfiotry, and
his family moved to Indiana the
very month of the same year
Indiana attained statehood in
December 1816.

This biographical oversight is
probably due to Lincoln's own
lifelong reticence to discuss his
loved one or his other sensitive
inner feelings, a character trait "V
common among the Hoosier v
frontiers people of his environ- ]
ment. His melancholic memories
of his mother, who died when
he was nine, were summed up
years later when as President
he referred to her as his "Angel
mother."

Her grave in Indiana, long
neglected, now is a National

Memorial and a middle point
of the three state Lincoln Heri-
tage Trail which begins at his
birth place at Hodgenville, Ken-
tucky and extends to his tomb
at Springfield, Illinois.

More important in the mold-
ing of Lincoln's character and
educational development was his
father, Thomas Lincoln, who
unfortunately, cost biographers
have ignored, or worse, written
off as unimportant or an unde-
sirable relative.

The congenial filial relation-

ship between the father, Tom.
and his only son, Abe during
the fourteen years in the isolated
area of the Indiana frontier
cannot be over emphasized in
the effect on the boy's future
character.

Lincoln's paternal pride and
affection for his own four sons
were a reflection on his own
father's relationship to him —
as Tom Lincoln for a time had
to serve as both father and
mother to the young boy of
nine who was left saddened at
his "Angel mother's" untimely
death.

Records show Thomas Lincoln
was well liked, and liked his
Kentucky home. Some of his
friends followed his leadership
and followed him to Indiana.
It was a sacrifice to give up
his contacts and resettle in a
new land. He had a reputation
for paying his debts, working
hard and being a good provider.
Like George Washington he
served his country as a road
surveyor, served on juries, and
was trusted in appraising an
estate; but he was leery of
Kentucky land titles, so even
though the tax book listed him
as 15th among the 98 property
owners named, he sold out at a
loss to raise his only son in a
different environment from his
own youth.

Tom was both an industrious
and religious man. As a single
man he had wored as a Ken-
tucky "patroller" who seized
Negro salves roving without
permission. Later he took a raft
of merchandise down the Ohio
and Mississippi Rivers to New
Orleans, where he saw the sell-
ing of slaves on the famous
slave market — an experience
he later encouraged his son to
duplicate.

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1967.

MORE ABOUT

Lincoln In New Harmony

tContinued from Fage^l^

Tom Lincoln was one of the
few outspoken anti-slavery men
in Hardin County, Kentucky,
which in 1816 had 1,238 slaves
on its tax list. He affiliated
himself with the splintered Sep-
arate-Baptist congregation which
was anti-slavery in sentiment.
This is why Tom chose to risk
all and move out of the slave
area into the new State of
Indiana to prove the proper
em^mrnent for the formative
years of his prized son, named
for his father who was an
intimate friend of Daniel Boone.

The underscore the prime im-
portance of the father's deci-
sion and sacrifice on not only
his son's future but the future
of the United States (or the
Union of States as it was re-
ferred to in those days) we
should not overlook the ironic
fact that only eighty miles away
from Tom's Knob Creek farm
and only one year before Abe's
birth, another backwoods Ken-
tucky family by the name of
Davis also had a son they
named Jefferson.

Young Abe was proud of his
father, Tom Lincoln. He was a
muscular man and was known
as the "best man" in his com-
munity of Gentryville, Indiana.
He was also a handsome man
with coarse black hair and dark
grey eyes (he lost one eye by
accident). He had a pleasant
personality and was a master
at telling humorous stories, a
talent his son acquired. An out-
door man, he loved hunting and
fishing. He was a man of ex-
t ceptionally good morals, no
\ vices, was honest and a good
J farmer, carpenter and cabinet-
maker. A"be's admiration and
respect for his father's wisdon
and authority an his dutiful
loyalty to him can best be
displayed by his lifelong respect
and regard for the authority of
law as expressed in a Spring-
field, Illinois address on January
27, 1838. There he said: Let]
every man remember that to
violate the law is to trample '

on the blood of his father —
and his own children's liberty."

From this speech, given years
later, it is apparent that Tom's
early teaching of his own set
of social values and his almost
religious attitude of respect for
the country's laws were a guid-
ing factor and influence in the
young man's eventual study of
the law.

This early legal influence
started when Tomfirst took his
then six year old son along on
a trip "to Elizabethtown, Ken-
tucky, shortly before moving to
Indiana, to straighten out a
entanglement on his Knob Creek
land title.

The father also encouraged his
teenage son to attend court
trials in the county seat in
Boonville, Indiana, and to read
law from books borrowed from
a family friend in Rockport. In
later years Abe seemed to cor-
relate his respect for his father's
authority with his respect for
the law.

Lincoln's educational develop-
ment in his Hoosier environment
has mystified such biographers
as Carl Sandburg who realized
it is not plausible that he
absorbed~*his early knowledge
from the forest, or from limited
reading assigned to him by
historians. Recent research has
thrown further light on his
early education. Tom Lincoln,
his father, who had the best set
of carpenters tools, and was the
"best regarded carpenter and
cabinetmaker *7n southern Indi-
ana" was sought out first by;
George Rapp, founder of the
Harmonie Colonie. Still later, in
1825 he became associated with
Robert Owen, a wealthy English
industrialist who bought the set-
tlement and brought his "boat-
load of knowledge" from Europe
to the Hoosier frontier, which
became a seat of culture with
the slogan "Universal happiness
through universal education."

Abe not only assisted his
father in carpentry work, but
got his versatile education there
al the first trade school, and
first free public library in
Aerica, under the tutoring of
such men as William MacClure,
father of American geology, and
the naturalist Thomas Say.

The young Abraham Lincoln
received his education and in-
tellectual achievements under
the guidance of Robert Owens'
assembly of scientists, educators
and intellectuals in his "Athens
in the Wilderness." In his en-
thusiasm to promote his son's
education Tom Lincoln, on Ap_ril
5, 182J, purchased 80 acres of
land in Posey County, Indiana,
about 10 miles south of Har-
monie, and hoped to re-settle
near where Robert Owens plan-
ned to build/a University in the
I wilderness.

I In one of his most trying
'moments as President, Lincoln
I was to call upon his boyhood
[teacher and friend in New Har-
mony, Robert Dale Owen, son
of the founder, who had written
him in September, 1862 urging
him to issue immediately an
Emancipation Proclamation to

free the slaves. Owens wrote,
/'Property in man, always moral-
i ly unjust, has become nationally (
dangerous. Property that en- ;
dangers the safety ' of the na-
tion should not be suffered to ,
remain in the hands of its
citizens." Relying on his past
close friendship and teaching (
influence on the President, Owen
bontinued, "A chief magistrate
who permits it to so remain
becomes responsible for the con- 1
sequences."

This critical letter from his
old teacher in New Harmony !
had such an effect on the Presi- I
dent that according to Secretary j
Chase, "It had more effect in |
deciding the President to make .
his proclamation than all other
communication combined."

Lincoln was trying to work
out a proclamation of Amnesty. |
a worrisome problem to him. Mr. |
Owen went to work on the
document and presented it to \
Lincoln. In it he made refer-
ence to the Whiskey Rebellion
during the administration of
Washington, who he knew to be
Lincoln's boyhood hero. Excited-
ly, the President asked: "Did
Washington issue a pro< lamation
'of amnesty?" Owen, making his
point, replied, "Here it is. Sir!"

On December 8, 1863 the
President issued his Proclama-
tion of Amnesty and Reconstruc-
tion. Acknowledging his former
Hoosier schoolteacher's influence,
he told him, "Mr. Owen, you
have conferred a very essential
service both upon me and the
country." The New Harmony
influence in Lincoln's formative
yosrs cannot be over emphasized
in his father attitudes on the
evils of slavery and his out-
standing belief that everyone
should have an equal opportunity
at education and the pursuit of
happiness.

Equal to the inspirational
educational opportunity in his
southern Indiana home, heridi-
tary evidence shows he was
born with superior endowment
from his father and grandfather,
both of whom showed an in-
telligent and inquisitive mind
and superior physical strength
which were passed on to Abe,
giving him his physical and
mental development and unique
trait for understanding people
and his personality to com-
municate with them.

The Washington Daily News. Tuesday. September 7, 1971

Page 21

The News

tuesday

portfolio

world

of
travel

The "Roofless Church." a modern shrine, is the most striking building at New Harmony, where two quite

different groups lived the life communal.

Rugged individualism and a dual commune

Two faces of Indiana: Lincoln Land and

By JOHN F. McLEOD

FRENCH LICK, Ind.— Abraham Lincoln once composed
a verse about the Little Pigeon River farm in Indiana on
which he lived with his family:

When first my father settled here
Twos then the frontier line.
The panther's scream filled the night with fear
And bears preyed on the swine

The land, in fact, was such a wilderness, that Thomas
Lincoln had to cut his own road thru underbrush for
much of the way. Abe was only 7 and hardly the mighty
axeman he became before the family picked up stakes 14
years later and moved on into Illinois.

You think of this today as you drive thru rolling, still
rather wooded countryside, following the Lincoln Heritage
Trail as it crosses the Ohio River from Kentucky to
another river, the Wabash, and thence over it into Illi-
nois.

Hoosiers, which is what we natives of Indiana some-

times call ourselves, like to boast that Lincoln spent his
really formative years in Indiana.

The key Indiana stop is at the Lincoln National Boy-
hood National Memorial near Lincoln City. Ind. This con-
tains a handsome Visitor Center with exhibits telling the
story of the Lincolns' life here. Nearby is the grave of
Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died of "milk sickness" when
Abe was only 9. A trail then leads you to the Lincoln
Living Historical Farm, which contains a reproduction of
the tiny Lincoln Log Cabin with outhouses, fences and
crops much as they must have been in young Abe's time.
The same sort of crops— tobacco, corn, pumpkins, flax-
are planted now as then. National Park Service employes
cultivate the crops with horse-drawn equipment.

On our visit an actual cousin (six times removed),
Forrest Lincoln, was in the cabin with his wife. Mary, to
receive us. Mary, a Park Service employe, brewed some
sassafras tea, a Hoosier specialty, made from the roots of
a small tree. Mr. Lincoln, who bears a remarkable re-
semblance, except in height, to the Civil War president,
wore a stovepipe hat. Mr. Lincoln is clerk of Spencer
County Court in nearby Rockport, and one of his distinc-

Cabin at the Lincoln Boyhood National
Memorial is much like that in which young
Abe lived.

Visitor enjoys sassafras tea with Forrest
Lincoln (right), a sixth cousin of the Pres-
ident.

New Harmony

lions is "[ happen to be the only Republican in the court-
house!"

ThERE are camping and picnic facilities at nearby
Lincoln State Park, and there's a nearby commercial
tourist attraction, Santa Claus Village, where you can
have a snack. Main attraction of this Santa Claus Land is
Jim Yellig. by far the most authentic Santa Claus I've
ever met. complete with "belly like a bowlful of jelly" and
booming laugh. He's been living his role for 41 years.
(Your youngsters may have a picture taken with him—
one for £ 1 .96. three for $4.90. a booming business, year-
around.)

We made two overnight stops in the state— one at a
Holiday Inn in Jasper, a German community; the other
at the traditional spa resort of French Lick, perhaps th;
outstanding resort in Indiana. When I was a youth living
in southern Indiana a bit north of Lincoln country, we
would drive to Jasper because it was the liveliest town
around. The Germans of Jasper didn't let a little thing
like prohibition stop them from brewing an excellent
beer. These days, however, the good burghers of Jasper
prefer that tourists concentrate on visiting their beautiful
big St. Joseph's Church. 40 years abuilding, and the near-
by St. Meinrad Archabbey, a Benedictine establishment
said to be the second largest of U.S. seminaries.

French Lick and the nearby spa of West Baden reached
their peak hey-days a generation ago, when spas were
more in style, and wide-open gambling casinos were
winked at. The two resort towns were winter headquar-
ters for circuses, and boxers came here for their retinues
for training. There were special railway spurs to bring in
the private cars of millionaire patrons. Both spas were
especially popular in the weeks just before and after the
Kentucky Derby, with Louisville little more than an
hour's drive away.

West Baden Springs Hotel, with a truly spectacularly
domed lobby long preceding Atlanta's Regency Hyatt
House, is now a college. The French Lick Hotel was taken
over by the Sheraton and is mostly a convention center,
especially popular with golfers because of its two cham-
pionship courses.

1 WO years before those rugged pioneers, the Lincolns.
cut their own trail into southern Indiana, a quite different
type of settler arrived in the area by river barge from
Pennsylvania. They were Germans, followers of George
Rapp. who believed in the imminent second coming of
Christ and also in a communal life style. In 10 years they
built up a thriving community.

After building the communal dwellings and establishing
a flourishing agriculture and handicraft economy, howev-
er, George Rapp sold out the whole commune, lock, stock
(Continued on page 22)

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ihe Washington Da;Iy News, Tuesday, September 7, 1971

aces o

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(Continued from page 21)

and many a barrel. It was said he decided to leave the
area because his followers had too little to do once they
were established. They had too much time to mull over
his strange religious doctrines, which included celibacy.

The commune's purchaser was a quite different gentle-
man. He believed in the communal way of life, too, but
his religion was science. This was Robert Owen, a Welsh
industrialist, philanthropist and social reformer. He at-
tracted scores of similarly inclined colonists — teachers,
artists, scientists, philosophizers. The community lasted
only a few years but its remarkable accomplishments
include: America's first kindergarten, first women's club,
first trade school and first civil drama club. Here also
was the site of America's first geological survey.

It was all quite wonderful for a time. But, like so many
other Utopias, this, too, came to an end. Too many of
the high thinkers weren't very hard workers.

New Harmony, only 25 miles from Evansville, is a
pleasant side stop along the Lincoln Trail. Its golden rain
trees, planted by the Owenites, are particularly lovely
when in bloom in June. A good lunch stop is the Red
Geranium Restaurant, famed locally for its baked goods.

A dramatic new shrine, called ihe Roofless Church was
built within recent years by Mrs. James Blaffer Owen,
wife of a great-grandson of the Owen leader. Containing a
modern sculpture by Jaco Lipchitz, many think it alone is
worth the trip. Paul Tillich, the theologian, was so ena-
moured of the place that he asked that his ashes be
scattered here on his death. They were, and the site, a
pine grove, is now Paul Tillich Park.

leeting site. I
; construction
ninium build-
nage the de-
of this com-

an View, an |
n known as
now flourish-
y Ruth and
this has to
uique opera-
stern Shore,
plete display
: virtually a

kes up large
n a former
Alex Cohen,
splay was a
ar barn at
l., Ruth and
sleep in the

other of an
limi Alexan-
Del., from
e many pur-

light activi-
que, consist-
the Milton,
ment, for a

s,

^pend your vacation where
work is a thing of the past.

The cobbler keeps the past on its toes, ihe
gunsmith makes rifles from tree trunk to trigger, and
the eighteenth century comes to life in Colonial
Willianjsburg. Come watch wivnwkprs nri<i rnmww

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